The invention relates to a cartridge and the combination of a cartridge and a printer.
Ink cartridges for printers such as ink jet printers include a delivery aperture, through which ink is withdrawn for printing and one or more breather holes, through which air enters to replace the volume of ink withdrawn, and to prevent a vacuum being created in the cartridge as a result of withdrawal of ink. Cartridges are commonly supplied with a seal over the delivery aperture and a label over the breather hole or holes to prevent the cartridges from leaking in handling before they are inserted into a printer. The seal is pierced by the ink withdrawal needle of the printer when the cartridge is inserted. The label however must be removed before the cartridge is inserted into the printer or ink cannot be withdrawn. This is particularly important in the first use of a printer of the kind where ink is transferred through a pipe from the cartridge to a remote printing head. At its first use, the printer is empty of ink and attempts to draw sufficient ink from the cartridge to fill the pipe and hence reach the printing head. If there is a label still over the breather hole or holes, this will be resisted due to vacuum build-up in the cartridge and the printer can be damaged.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided the combination of a cartridge and a printer, the cartridge including an element preventing the cartridge from being fully engaged in the printer, at least part of the element being arranged to be removed to enable the cartridge to be fully engaged in the printer and to open at least one aperture into the cartridge.
The element may be a protruding element and may be rigid. The removal may be by snapping or breaking off at least part of the element.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a cartridge for a printer, the cartridge including a rigid element at least part of which is arranged to be removed to open at least one aperture into the cartridge.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a cartridge for a printer, the cartridge including an element at least part of which is arranged to be removed by being snapped off to open at least one aperture into the cartridge.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a cartridge for a printer, the cartridge including an element at least part of which is arranged to be removed by being broken off to open at least one aperture into the cartridge.
Preferably, the element is protruding.
The or each aperture may be a delivery aperture. In a preferred embodiment the or each aperture is a breather hole.
The element may include a connecting part which is connected to the cartridge, the connecting part including at least one projection, the or each projection being received in an aperture of the cartridge. The element may be arranged to be removed so that the or each projection is removed from the or each aperture, but preferably a removable part of the element is removable from the connecting part, and preferably further the or each projection defines a passageway into the aperture so that when the removable part has been removed there is a passageway defined into the cartridge.
The or each projection and the or each aperture preferably have complementary surfaces. This increases the surface area of contact and therefore increases the frictional force to ensure that the connecting part is not removed by removal of the removable part. The or each projection and the or each aperture may have polished contact surfaces. This further increases the surface area of contact to increase frictional force. The or each projection and the or each aperture are preferably tapered. In this way the or each projection can be jammed in the or each aperture achieving a tight fit. The taper may be less than 5xc2x0 and preferably is about 1xc2x0.
The removable part of the element may extend substantially perpendicularly to the axis of the or each projection.
The removable part of the element may lie against a surface of the cartridge, which may be the surface in which the or each aperture is formed, and may extend beyond the surface as a protruding part. The protruding part may lie in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the or each projection. Preferably the extended part extends downwardly from that plane towards the cartridge body. The removable part may include a portion which lies against a second surface of the cartridge. The second surface may be perpendicular to the first surface. The portion which lies against a second surface of the cartridge will act to resist movement in the direction towards the second surface and therefore ensure that removal takes place only in the opposite direction thereby ensuring removal in the desired manner. The removable part may include a portion which lies against a third surface of the cartridge which may be perpendicular to the first and/or second surfaces. The removable part preferably further includes a portion which lies against a fourth surface of the cartridge which may be parallel to one of the other surfaces. In this way, the removal can only take place in the desired direction, as movement in any other direction is resisted by one of the said portions.